CIW | WGCU PBS & NPR for Southwest Florida

On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, the Chilean delegation toured a tomato farm in Parrish, Pacific Tomato Growers, and got to see the Fair Food Program in action. A delegation comprising of Chilean agricultural producers, human rights activists and government representatives has traveled to Southwest Florida to meet with representatives and see the workings of the Fair Food Program (FFP) first-hand. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, creators of the Fair Food Program, hosted the delegation for meetings, live farm tours and a look at Immokalee during the week of April 24-28th. Efforts to expand the Fair Food Program into Chile’s agricultural industry is the goal. Extending Chile’s human rights protections to workers, and certifying ethical producers, in that country.

Agriculture

From a church room to half of the U.S. the Fair Food program is expected to grow considerably

Eileen Kelley

The USDA has promised some $50 million to provide protection and combat abuse in the agricultural fields.

Members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers unveiled their giant puppet for their first-ever at the Farmworker Freedom Festival in West Palm Beach. The festival is being held this weekend, March 8th through the tenth, 2024, to celebrate human rights gains in the Fair Food Program. They plan to call on corporate holdout Wendy’s to join. The giant puppet, Esperanza, (means Hope in Spanish), joined the festival goers before they headed out on their march through downtown West Palm Beach, Friday afternoon.

Cultural Affairs

Farmworker Freedom Festival kicked off in West Palm Beach

Eileen Kelley

Immokalee farmworkers and others championing causes to end the abuses farmworkers have suffered in the fields carried their message of resistance and hope across the state to Palm Beach this weekend.The first-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival began Friday and continues through Sunday celebrating farmworker culture as well as the gains of the Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers Fair Food program.

Silvia Perez works on the body of the puppet. Members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers work to build a giant puppet for their first-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival to celebrate human rights gains of the Fair Food Program. They plan to call on corporate holdout Wendy’s to join.

Social Justice

Coalition of Immokalee Workers to celebrate 30 years of fighting for human rights

Eileen Kelley

The three-day festival will be held on the island of Palm Beach starting March 8

Lucas Benitez, a farmworker and co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was awarded the Wallenberg Medal by the University of Michigan for his extraordinary achievements in the field of human rights. Here is Benitez as he helped lead the march. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Public Affairs

Local farmworker and human rights advocate awarded with prestigious medal of honor

Eileen Kelley

Lucas Benitez is a founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. He is now in the company of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, John Lewis and the 14th Dali Lama of Tibet

Artist Jonathan Martinez, 22, center, whose Mexican parents first worked on farms when they arrived in the U.S. more than two decades ago, holds a hand-painted sign as protests along with his sister Paola, right, a 19-year-old cosmetology student, against Florida Senate bill 1718, which imposes restrictions on undocumented immigrants, Thursday, June 1, 2023, in Immokalee, Fla.

Immigration

Florida immigration advocacy groups are pushing back against DeSantis' border policies

Adrian Andrews

Humanitarian-aid orgs say the state’s newest anti-immigration laws will hurt it, in the long run.

Human Interest

Chilean delegation travels to Southwest Florida to learn how to eradicate modern-day slavery

Eileen Kelley

The Fair Food Program, the signature creation of Coalition of Immokalee Workers, is expanding internationally.

Farmworkers and their allies marched on Palm Beach. Around 500 peaceful protesters came out on the last day of the march in support of the farmworkers. With the determination to “build a new world”, where farmworkers can live free of human rights abuses and have dignified work the Farmworkers and allies marched the 45, plus, miles. On Tuesday they left the fields of Pahokee, FL, and walked to the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach. One of the biggest goals for the march was to put pressure on Wendy’s, Publix and Kroger corporations into joining the Fair Food Program. FFP was started by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Human Interest

They marched to end modern day slavery in the agricultural fields

Eileen Kelley and Andrea Melendez/WGCU Investigative Team

Farmworkers share stories of life in the Florida agricultural fields

Human Interest

Over 100 start march across Florida to protest modern slavery in the agricultural fields

Eileen Kelley and Andrea Melendez/WGCU Investigative Team

For more than a decade the Coalition of Immokalee Workers have been trying to entice giant retailers to join the Fair Food Program. Wendy's, Publix and Kroger have been hold-outs